A fabric is often produced on a loom having a width substantially greater than that which is desired in the finished goods. Frequently also the fabric is produced with a so-called false selvage which must be severed in the direction of the fabric warp from the fabric after weaving thereof. It is also known to deliberately drop several warp filaments and subsequently to transversely subdivide the fabric in the gap in the warp created by these dropped filaments.
Since the fabric normally advances at a relatively rapid rate from the preceding weaving, dyeing, or similar arrangement it is necessary to provide a fast-acting automatic shear to cut the advancing fabric along the desired warp line. In one known device an automatic cutter is provided which has a feeler that rides against the extreme outer edge of the fabric, with the blade or blades of the cutter spaced at a predetermined fixed interval from this outer edge. Although such a device is considerably more accurate than a simple fixed cutter, nonetheless minor variations in fabric width, often caused by unavoidable changes in weft tension or beating-up force allow a cut to be made which does not lie at a fixed distance from a given weft element so that an irregular fringe is produced. In such an arrangement it is also frequently very difficult to adjust the position of the cutter.